Method and apparatus to create color conversion profiles

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are an image forming apparatus and an image forming method thereof. The image forming method includes: selecting at least one among plural scanning profiles needed for color management at a scanning operation of a document and plural printing profiles needed for the color management at a printing operation of the document according to a user&#39;s input; and generating a printing image based on the selected scanning and printing profiles and a preset scanning or printing profile.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No.2006-0124792, filed on Dec. 8, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate toan image forming apparatus and an image forming method thereof, and moreparticularly, to an image forming apparatus capable of selecting aprofile and an image forming method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

An image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, multi-functionperipherals, etc. receives print data from a host apparatus such as acomputer, and forms an image based on the received print data on arecording medium. The host apparatus for the image forming apparatusesgenerates a document or the like print data so that the image formingapparatus can perform a printing operation.

The document to be printed by the image forming apparatus may betransmitted from various source devices such as a monitor, a scanner, adigital camera, etc. However, the image forming apparatus and thesesource devices are different in color representation, so that colortransform or color matching is required for the image forming apparatusto generate a printing image for color copying of the document receivedfrom these source devices.

Meanwhile, a color profile may previously be prepared for the colortransform or the color matching. The image forming apparatus maygenerate a printing image matching with each color representation.

However, since different manufacturers provide different color profilesand the color profile is stored in the image forming apparatus, a userhas a troublesome work to update a firmware or to access the imageforming apparatus through a separate application program in order toselect a desired color profile.

Particularly, in case of scanning and printing operations, the colorprofile can be controlled through a driver provided in the image formingapparatus, but in case of a color-copying operation, the color profilestored in the image forming apparatus has to be replaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide animage forming apparatus capable of eliminating difference in colorrepresentation, and an image forming method thereof.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an image formingapparatus capable of generating and using a separate copy profile from aplurality of color profiles.

Additional aspects of the present invention will be set forth in part inthe description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the present invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention can beachieved by providing an image forming method including: selecting atleast one among plural scanning profiles needed for color management ata scanning operation of a document and plural printing profiles neededfor the color management at a printing operation of the documentaccording to a user's input; and generating a printing image based onthe selected scanning and printing profiles and a preset scanning orprinting profile.

The image forming method may further include: generating a copy profilebased on the selected scanning profile or printing profile and thepreset scanning or printing profile.

The image forming method may further include: storing the generated copyprofile, wherein the generating the printing image includes generatingthe printing image based on the stored copy profile.

The selecting at least one among the plural scanning and printingprofiles may be performed through either of an image forming apparatusfor generating the printing image or a host apparatus of the imageforming apparatus.

The image forming method may further includes: transmitting at least oneamong the plural scanning and printing profiles from the host apparatusto the image forming apparatus for generating the printing image.

The image forming method may further include transmitting at least onelist of the plural scanning and printing profiles from the hostapparatus to the image forming apparatus for generating the printingimage.

The image forming method may further include displaying at least onelist among the plural scanning and printing profiles in at least one ofthe image forming apparatus for generating the printing image and thehost apparatus of the image forming apparatus.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an image formingapparatus including: an image forming unit which generates a printingimage based on a scanning profile needed for color management at ascanning operation of a document and a printing profile needed for thecolor management at a printing operation of the document; and acontroller which receives selection of at least one of the pluralscanning and printing profiles according to a user's input, and controlsthe image forming unit to generate the printing image based on theselected scanning and printing profile and a preset scanning or printingprofile.

The controller may generate a copy profile based on the selectedscanning profile or printing profile and the preset scanning or printingprofile.

The image forming apparatus may further include a storing unit to storethe generated copy profile, wherein the controller controls the imageforming unit to generate the printing image based on the stored copyprofile.

The controller may receive selection of at least one among the pluralscanning and printing profiles from either of the image formingapparatus or a host apparatus of the image forming apparatus.

The controller may receive at least one among the plural scanning andprinting profiles from the host apparatus of the image formingapparatus.

The controller may receive at least one list of the plural scanning andprinting profiles from the host apparatus of the image formingapparatus.

The controller may display at least one list among the plural scanningand printing profiles in at least one of the image forming apparatus forgenerating the printing image and the host apparatus of the imageforming apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image formingapparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image formingapparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a user interface of the image forming apparatusaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining an image forming method accordingto the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining an image forming method accordingto the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. The exemplary embodiments are described below so as to explainthe present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image formingapparatus 100 according to a first exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 accordingto the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes animage forming unit 10 and a controller 20.

The image forming unit 10 forms a printing image on the basis of ascanning profile and a printing profile. The scanning profile is neededfor color management at a scanning operation of a document, and theprinting profile is needed for color management at a printing operationof the document. The image forming unit 10 performs an RGB (red, greenand blue)-to-CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) transform based onthe respective profiles.

Here, the scanning profile matches RGB colors of an input document to aprofile color space (PCS), and the printing profile matches colors ofthe profile color space with CMYK colors.

The scanning profile and the printing profile may be based on one of aninternational color consortium (ICC) profile, an image color matching(ICM) profile, and a windows color system (WCS) profile.

In general, the respective profiles are stored to a color path of anoperating system for the host apparatus. Further, the WCS profile isclassified into a device model profile (DMP) that defines a relationshipbetween colors for the image forming apparatus 100 and a standard colorspace; a color appearance model profile (CAMP) that defines arelationship between a transformed value and an ambient viewingcondition; and a gamut map model profile (GMMP) that defines a matchingrelationship between devices having an unmatched color gamut.

Meanwhile, the respective profiles may be stored as a file or a look-uptable.

The controller 20 receives selection of at least one among the pluralityof scanning and printing profiles according to a user's input, andcontrols the image forming unit 10 to generate a printing image on thebasis of the selected scanning and printing profiles and a presetscanning profile or a preset printing profile.

Here, the preset profiles may include a manufacturer's own defaultprofile stored when the image forming unit 100 is manufactured.

The controller 20 generates a printing image based on the selectedscanning and printing profiles if both the scanning profile and theprinting profile are selected according to a user's input.

Further, the controller 20 generates a printing image based on theselected scanning profile and the preset printing profile if only thescanning profile is selected. On the other hand, the controller 20generates a printing image based on the preset scanning profile and theselected printing profile if only the printing profile is selected.

Here, the controller 20 may generate a copy profile on the basis of theselected scanning or printing profile and the preset scanning orprinting profile. The generated copy profile may be stored in a storingunit 30 or the color path of a host apparatus 300, which will bedescribed later. The copy profile may be generated in the host apparatus300 as well as the image forming apparatus 100. Here, the host apparatus300 may include not only a host personal computer (PC) connected to animage forming apparatus 200 but also a server in which the respectiveprofiles are stored.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thecontroller 20 includes a nonvolatile memory (not shown) such as a readonly memory (ROM) in which a computer program, a volatile memory (notshown) such as a random access memory (RAM) to load the stored computerprogram from in the nonvolatile memory, and a processor (not shown) suchas a central processing unit (CPU) to execute the computer programloaded in the volatile memory.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image formingapparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 200 accordingto the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes astoring unit 30, a receiving unit 40, a display unit 50, a userinterface (UI) generating unit 60, and a user input unit 70 in additionto the configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 according to thefirst exemplary embodiment.

The storing unit 30 stores the copy profile generated on the basis ofthe scanning profile and the printing profile. Further, the storing unit30 may respectively store the scanning and printing profiles receivedfrom the host apparatus 300 or may store a list of respective profiles,as well as the copy profile.

In this exemplary embodiment, the storing unit 30 may be embodied by anonvolatile memory such as a flash memory and the like, a hard disk, oretc.

The receiving unit 40 receives at least one among the plurality ofscanning profiles and the plurality of printing profiles from the hostapparatus 300. The receiving unit 40 may receive only the list ofrespective profiles. Further, the receiving unit 40 may receive the copyprofile from the host apparatus 300 if the copy profile is generated inthe host apparatus 300.

If there is a user's input for color-copying, the controller 20 receivesthe list of respective profiles, controls the display unit 50 to displaythe list, and receives a profile selected by a user among the respectiveprofiles. Alternatively, the respectively profiles may be stored in thestoring unit 30 before selection of a user.

In this exemplary embodiment, the receiving unit 40 may be provided asnot only a wired network connection but also a network connection tointerconnect a plurality of electronic devices such as a wireless localarea network (LAN) module, a Bluetooth module, etc.

The display unit 50 displays at least one of the list of scanningprofiles and the list of printing profiles. If there is a user's inputfor the color-copying, the image forming apparatus 200 receives only thelist of respective profiles from the host apparatus 300, displays thelist on the display unit 50, and, if a user selects a profile from thelist, receives the selected profile from the host apparatus 300.

In this exemplary embodiment, the display unit 50 may be realized as alight emitting diode (LED), a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel orother known displays in the art, and may be provided in at least one ofthe image forming apparatus 200 and the host apparatus 300.

The UI generating unit 60 generates a user interface (UI) to allow auser to select at least one among the plural scanning and printingprofiles. If the copy profile is stored in the storing unit 30, the UIgenerating unit 60 may generate a UI for selecting the copy profile.

Like the display unit 50, the UI generating unit 60 may be provided inat least one of the image forming apparatus 200 and the host apparatus300. Detailed descriptions of the UI will be described later withreference to accompanying drawings.

The user input unit 70 allows a user to select at least one of theplural scanning and printing profiles and receives a selection result.

Even though both the scanning profile and the printing profile have tobe selected, if only one of the scanning profile and the printingprofile is selected, the preset profile is used for the other one.Further, if the copy profile is generated and stored in the storing unit30, a user selects only the copy profile so as to apply a desired colorprofile to the printing image.

In this exemplary embodiment, the user input unit 70 is provided in atleast one of the image forming apparatus 200 and the host apparatus 300.

Below, a user interface 400 of the image forming apparatus 200 accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the user interface 400 according to this embodimentincludes a window 400 a for showing the list of scanning profiles, awindow 400 b for showing the list of printing profiles, a window 400 cfor showing the list of copy profiles, buttons 400 d for selecting andgenerating the profile, and a button 400 e for storing the generatedprofile.

If there is a user's input for the color-copying, the controller 20receives each list of profiles and displays it on the correspondingwindow. If the respective profiles are not stored in the storing unit30, the controller 20 receives the list of profiles from the hostapparatus 300. On the other hand, if the respective profiles are storedin the storage unit 30, the controller 20 searches the stored profilesand displays the list of them through the corresponding interface.

A user may select each of the scanning profile and the printing profileto perform the color-copying. If only one of the scanning profile andthe printing profile is selected, the other one is replaced with thepreset profile.

Further, if a user clicks the button 400 d for generating thecopy-profile in the state that the scanning and printing profiles areselected, the controller 20 generate the copy profile based on theselected scanning and printing profiles.

A user can save the generated copy profile in the storing unit 30 byclicking the button 400 e for saving the profile. If the copy profile isstored in the storing unit 30, a user can select the copy profile.

Below, an image forming method according to the first exemplaryembodiment of the present invention will be described with reference toFIG. 4.

First, at operation S410, the controller 20 selects at least one fromthe plurality of scanning profiles needed for the color management atthe scanning operation of a document and the plurality of printingprofiles needed for the color management at the printing operation ofthe document, according to a user's input.

At the operation S410, the controller 20 may receive the profile throughat least one of the image forming apparatus 100,200 and the hostapparatus 300.

At operation S420, the controller 20 generate a printing image based onthe scanning and printing profiles selected at the operation S410 andthe preset scanning or printing profile.

At the operation S420, the printing image may be generated on the basisof the selected scanning profile and the preset printing profile if onlythe scanning profile is selected, and may be generated on the basis ofthe preset scanning profile and the selected printing profile if onlythe printing profile is selected.

Meanwhile, the image forming method according to this embodiment mayfurther include generating the copy profile based on the scanning andprinting profiles selected at the operation S410 and the preset scanningor printing profile.

In addition, the image forming method may further include saving thegenerated copy profile, to generate the printing image based on thestored copy profile in the operation S420.

Further, the image forming method may include transmitting at least oneof the plural scanning and printing files from the host apparatus 300 tothe image forming apparatus 100. Alternatively, each list of profilesmay be transmitted instead of the respective profiles.

Also, the image forming method may further include displaying at leastone list of the plural scanning and printing profiles.

Below, an image forming method according to the second exemplaryembodiment of the present invention will be described with reference toFIG. 5.

First, the controller 20 receives setting for the color-copying atoperation S510, searches the color path of the host apparatus 300 atoperation S520, and draws up the list of profiles at operation S530.

At operation S540, the controller 20 displays the list of profiles whichare drawn up at the operation S530. Further, the controller 20 receivesselection of profiles by a user at operation S550, and determineswhether there is any input for generating the copy profile at operationS560. If it is determined that there is an input for generating the copyprofile at the operation S560, the controller 20 saves the copy profileat operation S570, and generates a printing image based on the savedcopy profile at operation S580. On the other hand, if it is determinedthat there is no input for generating the copy profile at the operationS560, the printing image generated at the operation S580 may be based onthe selected scanning and printing profiles.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have beenshown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments withoutdeparting from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope ofwhich is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. An image forming method comprising: displaying plural scanningprofiles or plural printing profiles to be selected by a user; selectingat least one among the displayed plural scanning profiles needed forcolor management at a scanning operation of a document and the displayedplural printing profiles needed for the color management at a printingoperation of the document according to the user's input; and in responseto an input by the user to generate a copy profile, generating the copyprofile based on the selected scanning profile or printing profile and apreset scanning or printing profile, storing the generated copy profile,and generating a printing image based on the stored copy profile,otherwise, generating a printing image based on the selected scanningand printing profiles and the preset scanning or printing profile. 2.The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting atleast one among the plural scanning and printing profiles is performedthrough either of an image forming apparatus for generating the printingimage or a host apparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 3. The imageforming method according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting atleast one among the plural scanning and printing profiles from the hostapparatus to the image forming apparatus for generating the printingimage.
 4. The image forming method according to claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting at least one list of the plural scanning andprinting profiles from the host apparatus to the image forming apparatusfor generating the printing image.
 5. The image forming method accordingto claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one list among theplural scanning and printing profiles in at least one of the imageforming apparatus for generating the printing image and the hostapparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 6. The image forming methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the copy profile is stored in a storageunit of an image forming apparatus for generating the printing image. 7.The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the generatingthe copy profile is performed through an image forming apparatus forgenerating the printing image.
 8. The image forming method according toclaim 7, wherein the selecting at least one among the plural scanningand printing profiles is performed through the image forming apparatusfor generating the printing image.
 9. The image forming method accordingto claim 1, wherein the preset scanning or printing profile isautomatically provided during the generation of the printing image andduring the generation of the copy profile.
 10. An image formingapparatus comprising: a display for displaying plural scanning profilesor plural printing profiles to be selected by a user; an image formingunit which generates a printing image based on the displayed profileneeded for color management at a scanning operation of a document andthe displayed printing profile needed for the color management at aprinting operation of the document, or generates a printing image basedon a generated and stored copy profile; and a controller which receivesselection of at least one of the plural scanning and printing profilesaccording to the user's input and an input by the user to generate thecopy profile, the controller controlling the image forming unit togenerate the copy profile based on the selected scanning profile orprinting profile and a preset scanning or printing profile, to store thegenerated copy profile, and to generate the printing image based on thegenerated and stored copy profile in response to the input by the userto generate the copy profile, otherwise, the controller controlling theimage forming unit to generate the printing image based on the selectedscanning and printing profile and the preset scanning or printingprofile.
 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, whereinthe controller receives selection of at least one among the pluralscanning and printing profiles from either of the image formingapparatus or a host apparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 12. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the controllerreceives at least one among the plural scanning and printing profilesfrom the host apparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 13. The imageforming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the controller receivesat least one list of the plural scanning and printing profiles from thehost apparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 14. The image formingapparatus according to claim 10, wherein the controller displays atleast one list among the plural scanning and printing profiles in atleast one of the image forming apparatus for generating the printingimage and the host apparatus of the image forming apparatus.
 15. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image formingapparatus further comprise a storage unit and wherein the copy profileis stored in the storage unit of the image forming apparatus.
 16. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the presetscanning or printing profile is automatically provided during thegeneration of the printing image and during the generation of the copyprofile.